dcicero

Hull is fully decked and has the waterways added.  Transom is shaped with integral "fashion pieces", and the hull now has its third coat of primer.  .  
 
Deck planking.  I used about one hundred fifty 1/16" sq. x 24" basswood strips for the deck.  

 
Transom fitted.  Deck planks inside the waterways are masked.

 
Third coat of automotive rattle can primer.  That's a 12" ruler on the hull bottom to give you an idea of scale.

I finished the PE on the fantail. It went quite well the PE is very nice to work with. My Gators Grip is almost out so I had bought a bottle of the Mig Ultra Glue to see how it behaves. It seems very similar to the Gators Grip which is good to know.
I then moved onto the catwalks and spent the rest of the day trying to put together the aft starboard section behind the elevator.
There are two main pieces plus three pieces of railing.

The PE instructions really don't provide a good visualisation of how the pieces go together and then install on the hull. Especially the relationship between PE piece #2 and piece #37

Luckily I was able to find the detail in one of the photos

I may be a bit challenged but that was not how i interpreted the instructions. I was able to dismantle my effort and remake the catwalk.

 

The photo also shows that the ordinance dump chute seen in the above photo (the right hand one) doesn't exist in the real ship in 2013 so I'll have to clip that off and check if all the others are really there.
I also did a fit check with the elevators in the raised position and found they didn't quite fit in the space in the deck. I was able to remove a small amount of material from the sides of the elevator and the rails on the hull and get a good fit. A lucky catch before the hull gets all delicate.
The PE catwalk build up is going to take a while to work round the hull and as usual the photos show up some faults to correct
 
Thanks for looking in
Alan
 
 
 
 

Interesting subject, I must say.  I saw the James Caird in Sydney many years ago where it was on loan from England.  It would make an interesting model.  Too bad it's this company making the kit.
 
 
Dan

To quote Zulu...
 
Hook - "A spot of medicinal brandy would set me up, sir."
 
Reynolds - "Brandy!  Brandy is for heroes, Mr. Hook!"
 
 
 
Dan

To quote Zulu...
 
Hook - "A spot of medicinal brandy would set me up, sir."
 
Reynolds - "Brandy!  Brandy is for heroes, Mr. Hook!"
 
 
 
Dan

Components and subassemblies ready for final assembly...
 

To repeat: Modellers Shipyard makes the kit; Modeler's Central is the soft-on-piracy vendor. It's confusing, but don't mix up the two -- as far as I know (for now), they're not the same entity.

Glen, that is so sharp. Very well done. Makes me almost wanna take up cheap brandy.

The project is complete! 
 
For all of you that have been following along, I cannot thank you enough for the likes, encouragement, comments, ideas, and suggestions along the way.  I feel like each one of you had a hand in this effort and I can guarantee you it would not have come out near as well without your help.

Re:  " Anyone else have hairspray in their toolbox?"
 
I use hairspray on rope coils to make them lay like I want them and stay that way.  Works great.
 
Could I ask what kind of putty you use for the sea?  How do you keep it from off-gassing and fogging up the inside of the bottle?
 
 
Dan

Hey Dan - thanks for the idea about hairspray and rope coils.  I'm gonna keep that bottle of Paul Mitchell and hope my friend forgets she loaned it to me!
 
Regarding the putty and sea, I actually used "Easy Cast - Clear Casting Epoxy" for the sea.  I did not notice any fogging as it degassed.  After dripping the epoxy in the bottle, I let it sit on a table in a wide open room with a ceiling fan running so it had plenty of ventilation for drying.  Not sure if that helped keep the bottle from fogging or I just got lucky!
 
For the ice, @Joe100 made an earlier comment about his use of Deluxe Materials plastic putty for ice.  I did not have any putty handy, but I did have some white modeling clay.  His putty idea made me think of trying the clay.  I rolled it out thin, painted it with a mix of acrylic white and gloss gel medium (for a bit of shine), and cut it up into a bunch of random, odd shaped pieces.  
 

Re:  " Anyone else have hairspray in their toolbox?"
 
I use hairspray on rope coils to make them lay like I want them and stay that way.  Works great.
 
Could I ask what kind of putty you use for the sea?  How do you keep it from off-gassing and fogging up the inside of the bottle?
 
 
Dan

The Morgan in a bottle is done!  After surviving the broken fore mast disaster, I fixed the middle whale boat as best I could and added some whitecaps to the wave edges in the water.  

The base I used for the display sort of looks like a piece of driftwood (which is ok considering this is a ship), but it’s actually a weathered branch from a pinion pine tree I found last August in southern Colorado.  I was climbing the East Spanish Peak and saw this really cool piece of wood lying on the ground. I put it in my pack and brought it home knowing that I would eventually figure out something to do with it.  

About halfway thru my Morgan construction, it hit me that the bottle might look pretty cool sitting atop the piece of wood that I’d brought back from Colorado.  I found that the bottle fit a groove in the wood pretty well, so after some minor adjustments I got it lying in a place that I thinks works well.  Let me know what you think.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for your likes, comments, and most importantly your encouragement along the way.  The work I see on your build logs is an inspiration, showing me what skill, excellence, and perseverance really look like.   And your encouragement keeps me going.  You definitely make a difference! 
 

Success!!!  Only a few minor snags (so to speak) when pulling all the strings and raising everything up.  My last SIB (Charles W Morgan) had 5 pull strings.  This one had 12 so it was a very careful process.  But all went well.  The thing I struggle with most is cutting the strings at the bowsprit after I've got everything up and in place.  I need to improve my technique or tools or both there.
 
The finish line is in sight! 

The standard stowage for RN ships on foreign service was 6 months, and that only reduced for the smallest classes which couldn't store sufficient stores and unmodified French captures which had different hold and Orlop arrangements which didn't conform to British practice. On home station the stowage was reduced to 4 months. It was normal during a moderate or large repair to rebuild a French capture to meet British standards, though many were too badly damaged through battle or rot that they were reserved for harbour duties (freeing a serviceable British hull) or broken up.

Victualers, and local resupply from naval stores or local purchases by the ship's purser could extend a ship's service on foreign patrol to 'years'.
 

It would be hard to find another writer who contributed more to our understanding of naval architecture than Chappelle, particularly with regard to small, regional sailing craft, but I've read his books.  "Dry" doesn't begin to describe them.  I can't imagine reading them for pleasure.  I've referenced them many, many times and used the drawings in them as references.  There's a ton of information there, certainly, but I wouldn't even call his writing style academic.  There are plenty of serious academics who write in an engaging style.  Chappelle isn't one of them, even when compared to other writers of his time.
 
I don't think -- to get back on topic -- he's particularly controversial.  I think his essay on "models that should not be built" just puts forth an argument, well supported.  I don't necessarily agree with it -- if you want a model of USS Constitution, knock yourself out -- but he wrote it from a position of great knowledge, skill and experience.  Got to admire that.  He's worth reading.

It would be hard to find another writer who contributed more to our understanding of naval architecture than Chappelle, particularly with regard to small, regional sailing craft, but I've read his books.  "Dry" doesn't begin to describe them.  I can't imagine reading them for pleasure.  I've referenced them many, many times and used the drawings in them as references.  There's a ton of information there, certainly, but I wouldn't even call his writing style academic.  There are plenty of serious academics who write in an engaging style.  Chappelle isn't one of them, even when compared to other writers of his time.
 
I don't think -- to get back on topic -- he's particularly controversial.  I think his essay on "models that should not be built" just puts forth an argument, well supported.  I don't necessarily agree with it -- if you want a model of USS Constitution, knock yourself out -- but he wrote it from a position of great knowledge, skill and experience.  Got to admire that.  He's worth reading.

Well done and by golly done. I tried to take some shots with the only neutral background I had. I thought I might post them in the gallery. But as you can plainly see I am no better at photography than I am at playing concert violin.
 
Here is the base with 3 coats of wipe on poly.

And a couple of parting shots. Since I took them I might just as well post them.

Thanks again to all. On to the next thing.
 
Regards and stay safe.
 
 

Bob,
Just a wild guess but is that a piano key board lid your canoe is sitting on? I will have to come up with a decent back drop and get some quality pics of this once it is complete.
 
Well after staring at this thing for half the morning and then a lot of snipping and cutting and sanding it went from this.

To this.

Since it was submerged for so long I am going to let it dry for a good long time as I am afraid some of the darker spots are mold or mildew. I might even bake it in the oven for a while. Here it is with the canoe on it.

I tried to leave the front "leg" so that it kind of looks like it is still partially submerged in the lake. Once I am sure it is good and dried out I will wipe on a couple coats of poly.
 
That's it for now.
 
Best Regards
 
 
 

Well it has been a while but finally some progress to report. I have not been Idle since my last update but since I could only manage one coat of poly a day and waiting for paint to dry is boring enough I did not think it was worth an update.
 
I decided I needed some shiny bits and pieces. The kit did not provide any so I had to make them.
 
I stared with come strip brass I had laying around.

And cut off a couple of small pieces about an 1/8" or so. Then a little rough shaping with file and sand paper.

Then I clamped them both in my handy all purpose jig one on top of the other.
 

and drilled some holes.

Then I rubbed them around in some jewelers rouge.

And this is what I was left with.
 

Add a little bent wire and rings and .....

I added some rope and whipped some loops onto the rings.

I glued the plates in place with a tiny drop of medium CA applied with a sewing needle.

Then very carefully drilled through the holes.
Once that was done it was simply a matter of pressing the hasps and loops in place.
 

And I think that with the exception of a display base which I have yet to make up my mind on that we can call this one finished.













At least 3 coats of poly on everything with a light sanding with 800 grit between coats. All in all this has been a fun and challenging little project. I think the few mods I added give this one a little character and uniqueness that made them worth doing.
 
I will update again when I figure out the base.
 
Until then thanks to everyone that followed, liked and commented on this build. I hope you had as much fun as I did with it.
 
Best regards and stay safe.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Yves and Chris for the kind words.
 
A little midday update. I had some grating slats left over from another project so I got started this morning gluing up a couple of small grates.

After giving them a bath in some thin CA I nipped off the excess.

Then I sanded the edges and thinned them down a bit.

The thinning is subtle unless viewed with a normal one.

Add a little mahogany framing.


And presto after a couple of hours you have two canoe seats.

The mounts are just more scrap planking bits. I obviously had no reference for this so I made them scale out at 9"x16" including the frame. That seemed about right for my butt anyway.
 
Still time to get more done so back at it after lunch.
 
Regards
 

There is a lot of satisfaction at building a small boat. We always strive for the large and complicated vessel and lose our momentum in the process, most of the time.
A small boat is easier built and can be very rewarding as proven by Duane's models.
 
Yves

The repetition in model ship building can test just about anyone's patience except maybe the Dali Lama! Drilling around 700 little holes and putting a sliver of fishing line in them to simulate nails on the Medway Longboat nearly sent me to the looney house! Hang in there,Dave, she's coming along!
 
Bob

It would be hard to find another writer who contributed more to our understanding of naval architecture than Chappelle, particularly with regard to small, regional sailing craft, but I've read his books.  "Dry" doesn't begin to describe them.  I can't imagine reading them for pleasure.  I've referenced them many, many times and used the drawings in them as references.  There's a ton of information there, certainly, but I wouldn't even call his writing style academic.  There are plenty of serious academics who write in an engaging style.  Chappelle isn't one of them, even when compared to other writers of his time.
 
I don't think -- to get back on topic -- he's particularly controversial.  I think his essay on "models that should not be built" just puts forth an argument, well supported.  I don't necessarily agree with it -- if you want a model of USS Constitution, knock yourself out -- but he wrote it from a position of great knowledge, skill and experience.  Got to admire that.  He's worth reading.

It would be hard to find another writer who contributed more to our understanding of naval architecture than Chappelle, particularly with regard to small, regional sailing craft, but I've read his books.  "Dry" doesn't begin to describe them.  I can't imagine reading them for pleasure.  I've referenced them many, many times and used the drawings in them as references.  There's a ton of information there, certainly, but I wouldn't even call his writing style academic.  There are plenty of serious academics who write in an engaging style.  Chappelle isn't one of them, even when compared to other writers of his time.
 
I don't think -- to get back on topic -- he's particularly controversial.  I think his essay on "models that should not be built" just puts forth an argument, well supported.  I don't necessarily agree with it -- if you want a model of USS Constitution, knock yourself out -- but he wrote it from a position of great knowledge, skill and experience.  Got to admire that.  He's worth reading.